Team
VCAP Solutions management team has held leadership roles at global banks, insurance companies, and asset management firms, bringing firsthand experience in the management of structured product portfolios. The company is led by Managing Partner, Charles McLendon who was formerly the President and CIO of Primus Asset Management and previously the Global Head of the Investment Grade Credit Group at Bank of America. The company has a core team of five professionals that bring over 85 years of combined experience with support from Vertical Capital's highly advanced proprietary loan level technology platform. VCAP Solutions has dedicated professionals in offices in New York and Chicago.
Charles McLendon - Managing Partner
Jason Howell - Partner
Taylor Wakefield - Principal
Peter Dwyer - Principal
Michael Bilello - Principal
Charles McLendon - Managing Partner
Charles McLendon has over 24 years of experience across a variety of fixed income asset classes. Most recently he was President and CIO of Primus Guaranty, responsible for the management of all Primus's proprietary and third-party managed portfolios, including the firm's CDPC business($24B portfolio) and its managed CSO and CLO portfolios. Previously, he held multiple leadership roles at Bank of America including Global Head of Investment Grade Group responsible for investment grade sales, trading and syndicate activities; including corporate bond, credit derivatives and structured credit products, as well as managing structured credit investment vehicles. He was also Head of Global Structured Products, which provided structured credit, investment and tax solutions across a range of asset classes. GSP included credit derivatives, CDOs, pension, insurance, and tax products. Prior to that role, he was Head of Structured Credit Products, responsible for the credit derivatives, corporate CDO and CLO businesses. Internal board responsibilities included BAS, Japan; Blue Ridge Funding; Principal Finance Group. He led strategic investments and sat on the boards of Vertical Capital, InCapital, and Markit Partners. Previous to Bank of America, he was Co-Head of Credit and Interest Derivatives at UBS, Head of Marketing for General Re Financial Products, and was a Vice President in Sales and Trading at Bankers Trust. He has a BA from the University of North Carolina and an MBA from the Darden School of Business.
Jason Howell - Partner
Jason Howell has over 17 years of experience as a strategist in the financial services industry. Jason joined VCAP from JP Morgan Chase where he was a Managing Director in the Portfolio Strategies Group within the Financial Analytics and Structured Transactions (FAST) department. Previously, Jason was a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns & Co for 16 years where he held a leadership role in advising institutional accounts on asset liability management, portfolio strategy, and relative value across the fixed income and derivative markets. In this group, Jason was responsible for formulating proprietary analysis and strategies, executing customized transactions with clients, and building advisory services. He also played a key role in the expansion of Portfolio Strategies to Europe and Asia and was involved in management and business development. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Business Administration from Rhodes College.
Taylor Wakefield - Principal
Taylor Wakefield has over 10 years of experience in structured finance and fixed income. Prior to VCAP, he was a Managing Director in Bear Stearns’ Strategic Financial Products group, where he was responsible for originating, structuring and marketing various types of fixed income structured products. His primary focus was on developing the cash and synthetic ABS CDO platform. He also worked on structuring CLOs, TRUP CDOs, HY CBOs and other esoteric ABS products. While in the Strategic Financial Products group, he executed 50 CDOs with total issuance over $25 billion. Prior to the Strategic Financial Products group, he worked in the ABS group and the Public Finance group at Bear Stearns. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Boston College.
Peter Dwyer - Prinicpal
Peter Dwyer has 13 years experience in the valuation, structuring, and risk management of derivative products including credit, interest rate, and foreign exchange derivatives. Peter joined VCAP from the Kensington Blake platform. Previously, Peter was a Director and Structured Trader on the corporate synthetic CDO desk at Wachovia from 2005 to 2008 responsible for managing the customer pricing process. He also spent a year as the head of Market Risk Management for Structured and Credit Products at Wachovia (2004). Prior to joining Wachovia, Peter was a Principal at Bank of America in the Credit Derivatives and Structured Credit Products area. He spent his first three years (1995 to 1998) in the Market Risk Control Area covering foreign exchange and fixed income derivatives. In 1998, he joined a team of people who were responsible for building out Bank of America's Credit Derivative and Corporate Synthetic CDO business. In this group, Peter filled a variety of roles including designing infrastructure and risk management capabilities, creating valuation models, and executing transactions with customers. The business grew from startup mode to a business that was generating over $250 MM per year in revenue. Before entering banking, Peter worked as an actuary and had attained the ASA (Associate of the Society of Actuaries) designation.
Michael Bilello - Principal
Michael Bilello has over 20 years of diverse experience in the structured finance and derivative industry. Michael joined VCAP from the Kensington Blake platform. Previously, he worked with Actuarials Holdings LLC, a start-up derivative clearinghouse that is pursuing a business model of clearing and settling OTC derivative trades. Prior to that, Michael started and managed structured derivative trading desks for Bank of America and Wachovia whereby structured derivative products were created and embedded within securitization vehicles. Starting off his career, Michael worked as a loan originator and servicer for General Motors Acceptance Corporation and Bank of New York and as a structured finance rating analyst for Standard and Poor's. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from S.U.N.Y. Albany and a Masters of Business Administration degree in finance from DePaul University.